Inflation Down, Unemployment Rises in Eurozone

Inflation in countries that use the Euro as their common currency has tumbled to its lowest level in more than a year.

The European Union statistics office said Friday that consumer price inflation dropped 1.1 percent last month to stand at just more than two percent. This is the lowest level since September of 2007.

The unemployment rate in the 15 Eurozone countries reached 7.7 percent in October, the highest in almost two years. Spain had the biggest unemployment increase, with the jobless rate approaching 13 percent last month.

European economists expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again next week by at least half a percentage point. The new rate is expected to be two-and-a-quarter percent. The rates have already been slashed twice in the past two months.

The monetary authority known as the Eurosystem is headed by the European Central Bank and is responsible for the monetary policies in the 15 countries that use the Euro as their common currency, the so-called Eurozone.